Layer 3 FQDN based split tunneling exists in desktop devices. The split tunneling is performed by dynamic per-IP routing or a kernel mode driver. However, a problem exists when attempting to perform Layer 3 FQDN based split tunneling on mobile devices because mobile device manufacturers prefer to isolate VPN clients installed on mobile platforms, e.g., the VPN clients are sandboxed, which forces the VPN clients to only route data packets exiting from the mobile device over a VPN socket, to direct the data packets to a private network gateway for further processing. The VPN tunnel is a secure connection. Each of the VPN client and the private network gateway operate to encrypt data packets that pass from the mobile computing device to the private network gateway and that pass from the private network gateway to the mobile computing device.
While some mobile computer device platform vendors provide a virtual tunnel interface where VPN clients can set IP-based routes for receiving IP traffic that needs to be tunneled, they do not allow setting FQDNs for splitting traffic. While some mobile computer device platforms like iOS support FQDN based split tunneling for Layer 4 traffic, a Layer 4 VPN tunnel is very limited and lacks many features of a Layer 3 VPN tunnel.